Intel Core 2 Extreme QX6700 Processor Review

Power Consumption

Since power consumption is a big deal these days we ran some simple power consumption tests on our test beds. Both systems ran with the same memory, power supplies, case fan, video card and hard drive model. To measure idle usage we ran the system at idle for one hour on the desktop with no screen saver and took the measurement. For our ‘load’ readings we ran the system under partial load by running a custom video game demo on all of the processors. This simulates real world use as the majority of our readers play video games.

When it came to idle power consumption the Intel Core 2 Extreme QX6700 consumed more than the other Conroe processors, but that makes sense as the QX6700 processor has two conroes inside. The AMD FX-62 used 8W more power than the Kentsfield, so a dual-core FX-62 still consumes more power than the quad-core Intel processor.

Under load the Intel X6700 uses the least amount of power followed by the faster clocked Intel X6800 and then the Intel 965 Extreme Edition processors. The AMD Athlon 64 64 FX-62 used to consumes 16W less power than the Intel QX6700 while running the first test of 3DMark06.